


The Intern

by Flame_Of_Ice



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-27
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2019-01-06 02:20:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12201930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flame_Of_Ice/pseuds/Flame_Of_Ice
Summary: When the formerly outlawed Avengers return to the new Avengers Headquarters they meet Tony's intern, Peter, and slowly they start to figure him out.





	The Intern

**Author's Note:**

> I suppose this might qualify as drabble, but I just love thinking up new ways for Peter (as Peter, not as Spider-Man) to meet the rest of the Avengers and become accepted into the team.

CLINT

Sam had insisted that they turn up a full day before Tony was expecting them, something that Steve protested at first until Natasha pointed out that they still didn’t have written confirmation from Ross that all charges levelled against them had been dropped.

Part of Clint felt awkward about turning up unexpectedly; Tony would see it as a lack of trust. The assassin side of Clint thought that the precautionary measure was totally justified.

They approached the unmanned front entrance and paused.

“Umm…F.R.I.D.A.Y?” Steve tentatively asks the air.

“Good evening, Captain Rogers,” comes F.R.I.D.A.Y’s smooth voice.

“May we enter?”

“Certainly,” the A.I. replies, “though I should inform you that, since you were not expected until tomorrow, Mr Stark is not here to greet you.”

The doors slide open and the foyer lights up as they enter.

“Is Vision here?” asks Wanda.

“No,” F.R.I.D.A.Y replies. “He is attending a meeting on the west coast. Ms Potts and Colonel Rhodes are also unavailable. The only person currently in the building is Peter. I will inform him of your arrival.”

Clint looks around at the others. “Who’s Peter?” he asks them.

The rest of the team shrugs but F.R.I.D.A.Y responds. “He is Mr Stark’s intern. He is currently in the kitchen but he has just informed me he will come down to welcome you.”

“Did anyone know Tony has an intern?”

More shrugs. They only have to wait a couple more seconds before they hear light footsteps running in their direction.

A teenager, dressed in jeans, a hoodie and a t-shirt (reading: ‘May the mass times acceleration be with you’ in the scrolling text of a _Star Wars_ opening scene) skids into the foyer. Clint notes that the kid is short, with dark hair and dark eyes that snap rapidly from one Avenger to the next as he approaches. Clint has spent years honing his instincts, and despite the kid’s casual air as he approaches them, something tells Clint that the teen’s movements are controlled and purposeful.

Clint almost ignores his instincts when the kid opens his mouth.

“Uh…hi! Hi guys! I mean, Avengers, I mean…” the kid ruefully rubs the back of his neck. “Um…I’m Peter, Tony’s intern. He, um, he told me you were arriving tomorrow. Not that you’re not welcome today, of course!”

The ramble cuts off and the team exchanges looks varying from amused to bemused.

Steve takes the initiative. “We hoped we could turn up early. Get settled in ASAP.”

“Cool, cool!” exclaims the teen, grinning now. “That’s very cool. Um, would you like me to show you to the rooms Tony has set up for you? You could dump your bags and then I could either give you a tour or you could just explore the place yourselves, or whatever?”

Steve explains to Peter that everyone but Scott has been here before, but they accept his offer to show them to their rooms, which is how they all end up traipsing after the kid, who points out rooms to Scott along the way.

“…and that down there is the gym room. The weights on the bench press go up to 10 tonne…”

Clint wonders what Tony was thinking, allowing a teenager to stay somewhere as risk-attracting as Avengers HQ. It just doesn’t make sense.

Something else that doesn’t make sense is Peter’s attitude towards them. Sure, he appears excited and welcoming, nothing unusual about that. The thing is, kids his age usually do this whole ‘gobsmacked-with-awe, hero-worship’ thing when meeting even one of the Avengers, never mind a half dozen of them. Hell, adults do it too.

It’s not like Clint _wants_ the teen to be drooling over them all. The down-to-earth attitude is a really nice change when meeting a civilian. It’s remarkably mature and a little bit odd.

He shows them all their rooms, asks if they’ve eaten yet and offers to make a stir fry when Natasha says they’ve haven’t, claiming that he was making one for himself anyway.

Nat stands at Clint’s door as he pulls clothes out of a bag and places them in the closet.

“Any thoughts on the kid?” She asks.

“I was hoping you knew,” he replies, to which she shrugs.

"I've got a theory, but I'm not certain."

"Wanna share?"

"Not yet," she replies, tapping her nose before heading back to her own room.

A short while later, Peter is doling stir fry out into bowls and the team converges at a large dining table. Clint watches as the kid helps himself to a bowlful of stir fry and then starts to head in the direction of the bedrooms.

It is Scott who stops him. “Hey, Peter, aren’t you going to eat with us?”

The teen looks surprised and a little bit self-conscious. “I don’t want to intrude.”

“Not at all,” says Wanda.

So Peter sits down next to Scott and applies himself quietly to his meal.

Sam begins the interrogation. “So, Peter, how long have you been interning for Tony?”

“Err….about, eight months?”

“Enjoying it?”

“Sure, absolutely. The tech is amazing.”

Natasha takes a turn. “What do you do as an intern?”

Peter reaches for his glass of water and takes a long swallow before answering. “Whatever needs doing, I guess. Tony occasionally lets me tinker with stuff in the lab.”

A few eyebrows rise at this. Tony’s lab is sacrosanct. Bruce was always allowed free range but for everyone else entry was based on a ‘look but don’t touch’ policy. Memorably, Sam was once banned from the lab after The Coffee Incident of 2015.

The kid then tries to turn attention away from himself by asking what brought the team to HQ earlier than planned, but Steve deflects that one nicely.

They all take it in turn to engage the kid; clearly Clint isn’t the only one who is curious. Peter answers their questions (fifteen years old, junior year, Midtown School of Science and Technology, an application to Tony’s September Foundation), looking a bit harried by the time he finishes answering that last one about how he met Tony.

When F.R.I.D.A.Y announces that Tony has arrived back from wherever the hell he was, the kid looks positively relieved.

They hear Tony before they see him. “Well, would you believe it, there was no Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough at the store I stopped at on the way back, so I hope you like Chunky Monkey, kid. I really shouldn’t eat this crap, but…”

Tony enters the room, spots them all at the dinner table and stops cold.

“Hi,” the billionaire says flatly, clearly not pleased about being caught off-guard.

Steve stands. “Hi Tony. I hope you don’t mind, we pushed forward our arrival.” He doesn’t bother trying to explain why and Tony doesn’t ask.

“Why would I mind?” Tony saunters forward and wanders over to pull up a seat next to Peter, before turning to the kid. “You OK?” A silent conversation seems to go on between the two of them.

Peter nods quickly. “Yup. We’ve had stir-fry. You want some?”

Tony shakes his head. “Nah. It’s Chunky Monkey for me. You could get me a spoon though.”

Peter raises an eyebrow and gives Tony a look that can only be described as critical. “You know Pepper hates it when you skip meals.”

“Jeez! _I_ hate it when you two gang up on me. How much does she pay you to keep me on the straight and narrow? I promise I can better whatever she’s offering you. How would you like a nice shiny new phone, hmm?”

Clint watches to two verbally spar and realises that this Peter kid is close to Tony. Close in a way only one or two other people are. Clint doesn’t know what to make of it and, looking around the table he can see that the others don’t either.

Tony eventually concedes to eating some stir fry and, standing up from the table, he ruffles Peter’s hair on the way past. Peter makes an annoyed noise, but grins as he starts collecting everyone’s empty bowls.

Later that night, after Peter has headed to bed, Sam brings it up.

“So who is he really Tony? The kid.”

Tony gives him a bland look.

“My intern,” he replies, before making his excuses and heading to his own bedroom.  

* * *

 SAM

The following weekend, Peter the Intern makes another appearance at HQ. He studies quietly in his room. He joins Tony in the lab (and Sam is not at all suspicious of the way they shove something under the desk when he approaches the lab at lunchtime).

At Tony’s invitation, Peter also sits and watches them spar in the training room, his gaze sharp as he observes evasive manoeuvres, feints and offensive attacks.

He joins Steve, Sam and Scott on a morning run, and Sam is surprised at how fast the kid moves, for a short-ass.

However, it isn’t until Sunday afternoon that the team comes to realise why Peter is there. Sam, Nat and Clint head to the gym room for an afternoon workout, only to find Peter there, doing bench presses.

At first, Sam doesn’t understand what has gotten Natasha’s attention when she nudges him and gestures subtly towards the kid. He looks at Peter, frowns at Nat and (at her repeated gesturing) looks again.

That’s when he spots it. The weight counter indicates that the kid is bench pressing five tonnes. Sam looks sharply back at Natasha who nods. Sam looks back at the counter. There’s no way it can be correct. _Steve_ can’t lift five tonnes, never mind the rest of them. Only Thor and Hulk can manage that kind of weight.

Peter is not wearing a suit, or technology of any kind, as far as Sam can see. He has a couple of thick bands around his wrists, but that’s it.

After a moment, the kid returns the weight to its resting place and sits up. He gives the three of them a smile and a hello as he wipes the sweat off the bench. He hesitates a moment, as though trying to decide whether to stay or go, then he waves at them slightly awkwardly and exits the room.

Sam can’t help himself. He goes over to the bench, positions himself and tries to lift the bar. It feels like he’s trying to push a small moon out of orbit. Impossible. He sits up.

“What the fuck?!” He asks Nat and Clint.

* * *

 SCOTT

That evening Scott is one of the last to arrive when the pizza is delivered. He arrives just in time to hear Nat asking Tony a question.

“Did you know your intern can bench press five tonnes?” Natasha asks Tony conversationally.

“Really?” said Tony, lifting an eyebrow. “I thought it was four and a half.”

“Five tonnes.” She repeats. “Who is he really Tony?”

“He really is my intern, and his name really is Peter.” Tony reached for a pizza slice. “Seriously, the kid has brains coming out of his ears. You should see what he can do with a chemistry set.”

“He’s enhanced. So spill the beans, Stark. I've got my suspicions, but I'm really not sure it's my place to air them.”

"Y'do?" Scott chimes in. "Let's hear them then, your suspicions."

Peter picks that moment to wander into the room, a thick physics textbook tucked under one arm.

“Kid, you’d better take this one,” says Tony. “Natasha is convinced she saw you lifting five tonnes in the gym room earlier.”

The rest of the Avengers all turn to look at Peter. The teenager bounces from foot to foot, an expression of mild panic on his face.

“Uh...Mr Stark, can I see you in private for a minute?” The kid asks.

Tony nods and wraps an arm around Peter’s shoulders as they wander out of the room. They return fifteen minutes later. Tony sits back down and unconcernedly picks up another piece of pizza. Everyone else stares at Peter in anticipation, the teenager standing awkwardly in front of them all.

“So?” Natasha raises an eyebrow.

Peter clears his throat. “So…you’re right. I’m…different. Enhanced. Whatever you want to call it. But…”

The kid looks at Tony before taking a deep breath and continuing “…I don’t really know you all like Tony does, so if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not share anything else about it, for the moment.” 

The room is quiet for a moment before Nat shrugs. “Fair enough.”

And that is the end of that. For the moment.

* * *

TONY

Tony has a particular spot he likes to sit in on the modular couches in the Avengers lounge room. It’s a corner single seater; no-one elbowing him and plenty of personal space. Clint and Sam seem to think this is hilarious and sometimes refer to Tony as ‘Sheldon’, ungrateful swine that they are. The Sheldon jokes are the only reason Tony doesn’t put up a list of house rules on the fridge door; no need to give them any more ammunition, regardless of how annoying some of their habits are.

Tony gets back to headquarters one day after a gruelling Stark Industries board meeting (Pepper must have been in the mood to torture him – there was absolutely no need for him to be there) and heads towards his seat. All he wants is a drink and some soothing AC/DC in the background.

He reaches his seat and stops cold. On it is a pillow covered in an image of Edna Mode, from the movie  _The Incredibles_ , holding up a super-suit and accompanied by the words: ‘Fine. I will also fix the hobo-suit’. Tony stares at it, stupefied, for a few moments before he hears sniggering from the direction of the kitchen. Turning, he sees Nat, Scott and Clint watching him, wearing various expressions of amusement.

“Which one of you bozos is responsible for this?”

Clint laughs out loud as Scott responds.

“We all  _really_  like your intern, Tony. He’s got a wicked sense of humour.”

“That little shit.” He finds himself reluctantly smiling. It figures Peter would worm his way into the hearts of the team quickly.

Vision wanders into the lounge from his bedroom.

“Is anyone able to explain this to me?” He holds up another pillow of Edna Mode, this one with the words ‘No Capes!’ in block letters. Tony snorts.

“Vision buddy, talk to my intern.”

* * *

WANDA

It is Wanda who is next to pick up on one of Peter’s abilities. It isn’t surprising, really. After all, he reminds her of Pietro, and not just because of his name. He is quick and lithe and has a ready smile. Plus, with her psionic abilities, it makes sense that Wanda would pick up on another person’s unusual mental talents.  

It is a Friday night and they had all greeted Peter warmly when he arrived, smiling somewhat shyly at them as he’d slumped down on the lounge next to Tony.

“Hey, kid,” greeted the billionaire. “How was school?”

A shrug. “Same old, same old.”

Tony had remained tight-lipped about the teenager, only admitting that he was Enhanced and determined to use his abilities to help people, so Tony wanted him trained. As a consequence, Peter now spent a couple of hours each Saturday learning hand-to-hand combat from Natasha and Clint.

Wanda watched now as Peter discussed a school science project with Tony, who appeared more relaxed and animated talking with the teen than he had done all afternoon with the Avengers team.

Suddenly, mid-sentence, Peter went silent. His eyes took on a distant quality.

“Kid, everything OK?” asked Tony.

“Uhh…”

“Peter?” asked Steve.

Peter turned to look at Tony.

“Is anyone expected tonight? Like, guests I mean?”

“Noo…” replied Tony. “Why do you ask?”

Peter ignored Tony’s question. “Are there any threats on the horizon? I mean, are you guys on alert right now, for any particular reason?”

“You’re making me pretty damn alert.” Tony’s eyes were sharp as he watched Peter stand up and turn in a circle. “Talk to me kid.”

Peter rubbed the back of his neck in a frustrated gesture, before turning again to Tony.

“Something’s wrong. I think...maybe…something’s coming?”

Tony only narrowly beats the other Avengers in standing up.

“Can you be any more specific?” Steve asks as Tony started running F.R.I.D.A.Y through a series of security searches.

Peter shakes his head. “Sorry, no. It’s just a feeling right now.”

“Are you sure you’re not just being…” Sam trails off.

“Paranoid?” Supplies Tony, eyes flickering over the results from F.R.I.D.A.Y. “Peter doesn’t do paranoid. He does, however, have excellent instincts. If he says something’s wrong, then something’s wrong.”

Wanda watches as Peter suddenly swivelled towards the elevators which, as if on cue, give a friendly ‘ding’. Peter tenses, his hands fisting, and without conscious thought Wanda engages her telekinesis and braces herself.

The elevator doors slid open to reveal one of the cleaners; Wanda recalled that his name was Richard, although she’d never come into close contact with him before. Tony, still distracted by his screens, glanced over at the cleaner and then back to the readouts.

“This part of the complex isn’t scheduled for cleaning in the evenings.” Tony calls out, as his hands moved rapidly to pull up data.

Richard smiled and cold dread shivered up Wanda’s spine. She knew that type of smile. So when Richard throws three small canisters in their direction, she reacts in a split-second, encasing the canisters in a telekinetic bubble. She held the bubble steady, unwilling to release it for fear of what might happen to the canisters if she did.

Natasha is across the room almost before Wanda can blink, knocking the guy out cold within seconds. And just like that, it is over.

The canisters are transferred to a decontamination lock-box before Wanda releases her hold on them. Almost immediately, they begin to hiss with the release of an unknown substance. A substance which, three days later, the CDC informs them is something unseen before and utterly, devastatingly deadly.

The following day, Wanda strolls into the common area to see most of the team quietly watching Tony argue with someone on the phone.

“I know. I know that May. I’m not arguing with you on that score.” Tony runs a hand down his face. “But I promise you, steps have been taken in the last four days to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“What’s going on?” Wanda asks Scott.

“I think that’s Peter’s Mom on the phone,” he replies, “and she’s not happy about him coming back here after what happened on the weekend.”

“No,” says Tony. “Yes. Yes, May. I understand. Absolutely. You have my word.”

“I’ve never heard Tony sound so whipped before,” whispers Rhodey, who had arrived a couple of days ago. “I wish I was recording this.”

When Peter visits HQ again the next weekend, he is accompanied by a beautiful middle-aged woman who greets each of the Avengers politely but coolly. May, it turns out, is Peter’s Aunt, although Wanda senses that the woman is Peter’s mother in every way that counts.  

May says little. She watches as the Avengers train and as Peter trains with specific team members. She joins them for meals and listens to the conversation. She watches how Peter interacts with the team.

Tony is at pains to please the woman and Wanda realises that the kid must mean a lot to the billionaire, for him to go to so much effort to accommodate May.

Wanda's curiosity gets the better of her. She dips shallowly into the other woman’s mind, and encounters an intense well of emotion directed towards Peter; deep love, overwhelming pride, curdling fear and fierce protectiveness, all rolled into one. It is so intense that Wanda backs out, but not before glimpsing a series of images May is projecting. 

A man, with the same dark eyes and warm smile as Peter. 

A small child who can only be a younger Peter, crying as he lifts up a broken pair of glasses. 

A red mask. Spider-Man's mask. 

 _Busted_ , thinks Wanda, eyeing the unassuming teenager. 


End file.
